PRISTINA, Kosovo — “When I travel through Albanian areas, I use my Kosovo license plate and when I reach Serbia or I’m back in Strpce I change it [to the Serbian plate],” says Milorad, a small retail shop owner. “I need to take these precautions, I don’t want to endanger my family,” he says. Milorad is from Strpce, one of the most southern Serb enclaves in the majority Albanian province of Kosovo. Strpce can only be reached by passing through a Kosovo Police Service (KPS) checkpoint and another manned by Ukrainian troops that are part of NATO’s Kosovo Force (KFOR). [...]
MOGADISHU, Somalia — On Nov. 17, two small groups of Islamic insurgents wielding rifles and rockets attacked Ugandan troops protecting a critical road junction in Mogadishu, sparking a 90-minute firefight that proved to be one of the first major tests of the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia. The battle at the so-called four-kilometer roundabout — which links Mogadishu’s airport and seaport to major roads leading out of the city — left at least one insurgent dead. The Ugandans suffered no casualties. The fight proved that the 1,600-man AU mission can survive in the embattled city, according to Ugandan army [...]
The Associated Press grimly reports that “Insurgents have staged more than 130 suicide attacks” in Afghanistan this year. Something called the “Global Islamic Media Front” is demanding that Germany and Austria withdraw from Afghanistan. “NATO’s shortfalls holding back progress in Afghanistan,” declare the Canadian media. On top of all that, we are reminded daily of Pakistan’s imminent explosion or implosion, which, by my count, we’ve been bracing for since October 2001. But there is other news from the Afghanistan front — news that’s not making it into the morning papers, at least not onto the front page. Resisting intense and [...]
